


your laugh (i would recognize it anywhere)

by ravenreyamidala



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Bittersweet, M/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Overdose, Rimouski Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:53:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22108615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenreyamidala/pseuds/ravenreyamidala
Summary: Kent and Jack spend ring in the New Year together. The first of many, they think. A good memory. They'll tell their kids about it.
Relationships: Kent "Parse" Parson/Jack Zimmermann
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	your laugh (i would recognize it anywhere)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [staranise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/staranise/gifts), [ohmygodfoxtrot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygodfoxtrot/gifts).

> title is of course from taylor swift's "new year's day" 
> 
> thanks for haunting me with the lyric "please don't ever become a stranger / whose laugh i would recognize anywhere" 
> 
> i've been ghosted a lot by dear friends. i can't say that it's completely underserved, but instead of dwelling on the bitterness, i like to remember the happy times. 
> 
> i don't know, i probably sound like a white suburban mom writing about her marriage before talking about her brownie recipe. enjoy? my not-brownie recipe?

Jack can tell how gone Kent is by the flush in his cheeks, the roaring pink drowning out the faint freckles that still linger, this late into an unusually cold Canadian winter, the freckles Jack had carefully mapped with his lips the night before. 

He’s watching from across the room as Kent talks to Stars, and all he can do is smile. Eventually Kent makes his way back to Jack, plopping down into his lap. Jack isn’t too drunk to avoid kissing Kent, but he’s drunk enough that he tamps down the low-level anxiety that always buzzes in the back of his head when they’re close like this in public. 

Kent stretches out, moving so he’s resting his head and the backs of his knees on opposite arms of the cushy armchair Jack found in a dark corner of Cap’s parents’ house. His smile is a secret that only Jack gets to know, and Jack doesn’t fight the urge to run his fingers through Kenny’s tousled blond hair. 

“Why is there glitter in your hair?” Jack asks after a moment, and Kent laughs.

“The real question, Zimms, is why don’t you have glitter in your hair?” Kent says, so sweetly fond it almost makes Jack’s teeth ache with a feeling that he associates more with warm blankets and hot chocolate. 

“Touche,” Jack admits, draping an arm over Kent’s knees. 

“Who are you going to kiss at midnight?” Kent asks casually, but Jack can feel how his calves tense up. He rubs a hopefully soothing hand over Kent’s jean-clad shins. 

“Well, there’s this pretty blond I have my eye on,” Jack murmurs, confused when he feels Kent tense up more in his lap. 

“Point her out to me, I’ll wingman you,” Kent says as he moves to get up. 

“Well, admittedly, I don’t know how this works, but do i need a wingman for my wingman?” Jack says, amused. 

Kent blinks, hair mused. The alcohol’s somehow smoothened some of his rough edges, and Jack wants to kiss him so badly. 

“I am too drunk to understand what that means,” Kent finally decides. 

“You’re blond, Kenny,” Jack hints, and Kent lies back down. 

“You think I’m pretty, Zimms?” Kent teases, and Jack puts down the beer he had been nursing. 

He’s only had five, so he’s still sober enough not to kiss Kent, but he has to stop drinking now if he wants to make it to someplace more private. 

“I think you’re gorgeous,” Jack says, and he means for it to be smooth and suave, the way Maman describes Papa on their first date, but it comes out more earnest than he means to. He blushes. 

Kent stares up at him, gaze smoldering, for a moment that’s a beat too long before he’s getting up again. 

“Where are you going?” Jack calls when Kent has taken a few steps away from him. 

“Why, miss me already?” Kent asks. 

“Always,” Jack says, the embarrassing too-earnest tone back in his voice. 

Kent holds out his hand to Jack. 

“Come on, babe,” Kent offers. 

And Jack goes, content to follow Kent wherever his boyfriend might lead him. 

They find a room that locks, and that’s the last coherent thought before it’s just--

Kent and Jack, Jack and KentandJackandKentandJackandKent. 

“What do you think we’ll be doing next New Year’s?” Kent asks, draped over Jack’s chest. 

“Hopefully this,” Jack says, canting his hips up, and making Kent laugh. 

He sobers quickly. 

“No, but-- I don’t know, I guess I’m being such a chick about this,” Kent says. “Forget I said anything.” 

Jack brushes a kiss on Kent’s ear, mind racing for the right thing to say. 

“For what it’s worth, I want your midnights,” Jack finally admits. “I want the New Year kisses, and the cuddling and the pillow talk, and all of this.”

“Yeah?” Kent asks. 

“Yeah.” 

“Me too,” Kent murmurs sleepily. “I’m happy. You’re happy?”

“Yeah,” Jack repeats.

They’re almost asleep when a loud cheer from the main room jolts them back awake. 

“Guess that’s the year then,” Kent laughs, before cuddling closer to Jack. 

Jack wonders what he should say. They should get up and put on some clothes and go back before someone gets suspicious. They’re so close to living their dreams, and one misstep could bring it all crashing around their ears.

But Kenny is so warm and vibrant, and Jack is so comfortable, right here, right now. He can’t remember the last time something was easy. So he settles in, cuddles into Kent. 

Falls asleep to fireworks, bursting brightly in cold air, to the sight of Kent’s happy face. 

He falls asleep smiling. 

**Author's Note:**

> please-don't-ever-become-a-reader-whose-feedback-style-i-can't-recognize-anywhere
> 
> but also totally understand if you don't have the spoons to comment! i would like a comment if you enjoyed this. even if it's just to say happy new year :)


End file.
